I would like to applaud Barbra Streisand for courageously filing a landmark lawsuit against the environmental vigilantes who operate the californiacoastline.org website. The site contains 12,000 high-resolution photos of coastal residences and represents an unprecedented invasion of privacy for all of us who live near the coast. The purpose of the site is to provide illegal surveillance of homes to collect evidence for the Coastal Commission to file enforcement actions against “unpermitted development.” But what does spying into people’s bedrooms with high tech cameras have to do with protecting the environment?
This site represents a step into an Orwellian world and is, unfortunately, a perfect how-to guide for burglars, child kidnappers and terrorists. Many photographs on the site show close-ups of children playing in their yards and women sunbathing on their decks.
In transparent doublespeak, Kenneth Adelman, the operator of the site, defends his actions by saying “People move to the coast because it’s beautiful, but they don’t want anyone else to have its beauty. … I’ve heard it likened to a beautiful woman wearing revealing clothing and then complaining when men stare at them.” Kenneth Adelman is clearly a disturbed individual who rationalizes his trespass by advancing the same “she asked for it” defense rapists use to justify their actions in rape trials.
Ms. Streisand will win her case because Mr. Adelman is not simply exercising his free speech rights. His intent is puerile and his methods are designed to intrude and penetrate what society regards as most precious, our families and our homes. The California Supreme Court has ruled (Miller vs. NBC, 1986) that “intrusion occurs by virtue of the physical or mechanical observation of the private affairs of another and not by the publication of such observations … The First Amendment is not a license to trespass, to steal or to intrude by electronic means into the precinct of another’s home or office.” Thank you, Ms. Streisand, for drawing a strong hard line in the sand in defense of privacy for all of us.
Anne Hoffman, president
Land Use Preservation Defense Fund